What are my sun corals growning on? Not a rock!

[rsigler]

Hey Gang,

About two weeks ago I purchased a sun coral from my LFS. Staring at my new coral, I could swear it was moving! I just assumed there was a hermit crab under it.

Well today I figured it out. The rock it is growing on really isn't a rock. It's alive!

What is this thing, and how do I feed it? If it dies, will it fill my tank with ammonia, etc?

I used a light in one of the photos so you can see the inside of it.

Thanks!

Rob

 

[rsigler]

BTW, in the first pic, it is closed, in the second it is open, and the third pic you can see the inside.

 

[Gboy66]

Its a clam! Very cool

 

[Sniperhank]

This is the third coral on a clam that has been posted this week. I need a better LFS...

 

[EriksFish315]

Coral on a clam that's pretty cool. And yes your Lfs needs todo something lol

 

[rsigler]

So how do I take care of this thing? What should I feed it? I don't want to let it starve to death. I knew I wasn't seeing things!

Rob

 

[Sniperhank]

They need alot of light and a medium waterflow. They are a filter feeder so I would assume that marine snow would take care of that. You might want to look up the clams on liveaquaria.com to see if you can find the exact one. It might be a difficult process, as clams aren't the easiest to care for to begin with, but the fact that a low light coral is sitting ontop of a high light clam...

 

[Richy35]

+1 Sniperhank. Sun corals prefer shaded areas in the tank. Not direct light.

 

[Rutrag]

They need alot of light and a medium waterflow. They are a filter feeder so I would assume that marine snow would take care of that. You might want to look up the clams on liveaquaria.com to see if you can find the exact one. It might be a difficult process, as clams aren't the easiest to care for to begin with, but the fact that a low light coral is sitting ontop of a high light clam...

Are you sure that's a photosynthetic clam? All the tridachnids I've seen have a teardrop or striped pattern. The mantle in the pic reminds me of a thorny oyster which is a filter feeder, but I believe is not photosynthetic.

 

[Gboy66]

+1 Sniperhank. Sun corals prefer shaded areas in the tank. Not direct light.

Thats funny considering they are SUN corals..

 

[CleverBs]

Are you sure that's a photosynthetic clam? All the tridachnids I've seen have a teardrop or striped pattern. The mantle in the pic reminds me of a thorny oyster which is a filter feeder, but I believe is not photosynthetic.

Agreed 100% thats what I thought it was

 

[Sniperhank]

No, I am not sure about the clam. I have no experience with them period. I just did some quick searching and with the coral ontop I can't tell.

 

[Richy35]

Thats funny considering they are SUN corals..

I thought the same thing when I was told about them. I had to research it myself just make sure it was true.

 

[Rutrag]

It is kind of a funny name. I guess they are caled sun corals because of their color and perhaps their shape, but they are definitely not photosynthetic.

 

[Jlsardina]

If they both were in shaded areas before (hopefully) and they are healthy now- leave them there. Lol. Obviously that colony didnt grow in direct sunlight so I would assume that the clam/oyster isn't a light driven organism. If it is an oyster- make sure to supplement calcium as it will need it. Also, clams and oysters are filter feeders. If you broadcast feed your tank- with shrimp and phytoplankton- it should be fine.